The present invention relates to an integrated solar cell of cut-off construction.
In order to obtain a high-output solar cell, an integrated construction has heretofore been employed. A conventional integrated solar cell is generally fabricated by forming a pattern of independent transparent electrodes on a single transparent support, superimposing semi-conductor elements and back side electrodes on the pattern of transparent electrodes and intercontacting those solar cell elements in an integrated manner.
In such an integrated solar cell, since the solar cell elements must be formed independently of each other, the effective area of the elements accounts for only about 60% of the total surface area of the transparent support, with the result that the output of the whole solar cell per unit area is limited. In order to obtain a high output with such an integrated solar cell construction, it it necessary to increase the effective surface area of cell elements. However, since an attempt to increase the surface area inevitably results in an increased overall size of the device, the product cell is limited in its application and is also expensive. Moreover, since different patterns must be used for various solar cell output demands, the production process is complicated.
In view of the foregoing background, the present inventors conducted an intensive research to develop a solar cell which would have an increased ratio of the effective area of its cell elements to the surface area of the transparent support and a consequently increased solar cell output per unit area, and to fabricate solar cells suited for different output demands by using the same pattern of integration.